Who is a General Dentist?
A general dentist is the primary dental care provider for patients of all ages. The general dentist is responsible for the diagnosis, treatment, management and overall coordination of services related to patients' oral health needs.

What is Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics?
That area of dentistry concerned with the supervision, guidance and correction of the growing or mature dentofacial structures, including those conditions that require movement of teeth or correction of malrelationships and malformations of their related structures and the adjustment of relationships between and among teeth and facial bones by the application of forces and/or the stimulation and redirection of functional forces within the craniofacial complex. Major responsibilities of orthodontic practice include the diagnosis, prevention, interception and treatment of all forms of malocclusion of the teeth and associated alterations in their surrounding structures; the design, application and control of functional and corrective appliances; and the guidance of the dentition and its supporting structures to attain and maintain optimum occlusal relations in physiologic and esthetic harmony among facial and cranial structures.

What is Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery?
The specialty of dentistry which includes the diagnosis, surgical and adjunctive treatment of diseases, injuries and defects involving both the functional and esthetic aspects of the hard and soft tissues of the oral and maxillofacial region.

What is a NPI Number? : The National Provider Identifier (NPI) is a unique identification number for covered health care providers. The NPI is a 10-position, intelligence-free numeric identifier (10-digit number). This means that the numbers do not carry other information about healthcare providers, such as the state in which they live or their medical specialty.
The NPI must be used in lieu of legacy provider identifiers in the HIPAA standards transactions. Covered health care providers and all health plans and health care clearinghouses must use the NPIs in the administrative and financial transactions adopted under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).

Where NPI should be used? : The NPI must be used in place of legacy provider identifiers, such as a Unique Provider Identification Number (UPIN), Online Survey Certification & Reporting (OSCAR) and National Supplier Clearinghouse (NSC) in HIPAA standard transactions. There are two categories of health care providers for NPI enumeration purposes. Entity Type 1 providers are individual providers who render health care (e.g., physicians, dentists, nurses).
Sole proprietors and sole proprietorships are Entity Type 1 (Individual) providers. Organization health care providers (e.g., hospitals, home health agencies, ambulance companies) are considered Entity Type 2 (Organization) providers.

Who must obtain NPI? : All health care providers who are HIPAA-covered entities, whether they are individuals (e.g., physicians, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, physical therapists, or pharmacists) or organizations (e.g., hospitals, home health agencies, clinics, nursing homes, residential treatment centers, laboratories, ambulance companies, group practices, Health Maintenance Organizations [HMOs], suppliers of durable medical equipment, pharmacies) must obtain an NPI.
The NPI will be used by HIPAA-covered entities (e.g., health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers) to identify health care providers in HIPAA standard transactions. A covered health care provider, under HIPAA, is any health care provider who transmits health information in electronic form in connection with a transaction for which the Secretary of Health and Human Services has adopted a standard, even if the health care provider uses a business associate to do so.